President Obama’s unorthodox remarks about Christianity’s history at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast set off a firestorm of criticism. Reflecting on the recent rise of the Islamic State and its subsequent negative effects on Islam's image in America, the president reminded his audience that Christianity too had previously been used as a justification for a number of cruelties throughout history, remarking, “Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”
The message the president was trying to convey — one of humility, of remembering to examine the log in our own eye before examining the speck in a brother’s — left many Republicans foaming at the mouth. Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore called the statements “the most offensive [statements] I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime,” with others denouncing the president for using “wrongheaded moral comparisons.” Even the president’s usual supporters criticized his statements: The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson, known for defending President Obama’s policies, noted his statements were “glib, facile, and patronizing.”
Sure, the president's remarks could have been worded more tactfully and with more appreciation for his immediate audience. Maybe he should have counterbalanced his remarks of Jim Crow laws by mentioning the Abolitionist movement, which also has roots in the Church. Regardless, Obama’s starkly realistic and anti-exceptionalist statements are true no matter how slanted one’s views of history may be. His statements aren't trying to justify ISIS or extremism in the slightest, or holding Islam up to a medieval moral standard. As Mr.Robinson points out, all peoples should be expected to know the inherent evil in burning alive and executing unarmed citizens and journalists, as ISIS has been doing for the past few months. No amount of ancient Crusade comparisons or Jim Crow references will ever justify the atrocities committed by ISIS. Obviously Obama knows this — his own foreign policy actions, saturated with overseas drone strike campaigns and top secret kill lists, reveal a leader bent on eliminating threats to American soil. The statements made at the National Prayer Breakfast aren't trying to justify the crimes committed by others — rather, they are a bold reminder that inhumane actions committed in the name of ideologies often are contradictory to the very ideologies they are being committed for.
Obama is boldly trying to undermine the sentiment that Islam’s inherent teachings are to blame for the violence caused by ISIS and other extremist groups. People interested in gaining power will always attempt to sanctify the methods in which they attain control, especially when there is a struggle for power. In the Middle East, such a struggle for power has never been greater. From the disintegration of the centuries-old Ottoman Empire to the colonization and subsequent withdrawal of the European powers in the Arab world, dangerous power vacuums have sprung up in large parts of the Middle East over the past century. In the absence of the old ways of governance, a fungus of what I would call anti-Islamic extremism and despotism have taken root in the region, contradictory to the values of peace and tolerance that Islam holds as ideal. Religion, like politics or economics, is a peculiarly human institution — it can be the cause for great good or the source of atrocious evil.
The National Prayer breakfast is an international event that brings together 3,000 people of different faiths, cultures and races. While the event is certainly centered around the “spirit of Jesus,” it should also be an event that is inclusive and accepting of all the people who attend. The president’s remarks, though somewhat clumsily delivered, ultimately aim to remind Americans that this country is built upon the foundations of religious tolerance. To practice anything less would be violating our ideals.
Hasan Khan is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.khan@cavalierdaily.com.
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